Telecom outage halts arrivals at New York, Boston and Philadelphia airports

A telecommunications failure and a severed fibre optic cable disrupted thousands of flights across the United States, halting arrivals at airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

The Federal Aviation Administration stopped inbound traffic along the east coast. Flights were suspended at the three main New York-area airports, Philadelphia, Boston and two smaller New York-area airports. FlightAware reported more than 5,600 flights delayed or cancelled in the United States, including 1,200 at the three New York airports. More than 100 flights were sent to alternative airports.

The disruption came as 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers arrived in New York for the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a construction crew working for Amtrak accidentally cut a fibre optic line in New Jersey. The resulting telecommunications outage led the FAA to pause flights in the north-east.

FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said a replacement circuit failed at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, which had been acting as the primary communications link for the centre. When officials tried to activate the backup line, they found it had also been cut. Verizon confirmed that its fibre optic cable located next to a [line] was affected, the report said.

According to the report, the incident highlighted the fragility of the country's ageing air traffic control system.